Joining
the sparsely populated Toyama and Gifu prefectures in central Japan, the 185-km-long
Tokai Hokuriku Expressway cuts through the Tateyama mountain range and is scheduled
for completion in 2007. It provides much-needed access between the large cities
on the southern coast and ports to the north on the Sea of Japan. Older roads,
with miles of tunnels barely wide enough for two small cars to pass, have hindered
overland transportation of freight and further isolated a region dubbed "the
Japanese Alps."
Built with massive government funds distributed on the basis
of geography rather than population, the highway uses elaborate hillside cuts
in favor of tunnels to negotiate the steep topography. These video stills
were shot along a 15 km stretch -- the Gokayama Interchange -- which in 2000
was one of the first sections to be completed. It therefore served as a sort
of laboratory for civil engineering techniques to be used elsewhere on the
Expressway. Over twenty distinct types of concrete retaining walls can be
found on this section alone, each responding to extreme drainage, soil and
topographic conditions.
--Hugh Hynes
